Whitebread to Add 1200 Rooms

Premier Inn owners Whitbread PLC have announced plans to add an extra 1200 rooms to its London capacity over the next three years.

400 of the extra rooms will provided by acquiring the Quality Hotel in Westminster, the Keninsgton-based Comfort Inn the Purple Hotel in the City of London from the Real Hotel Company PLC for £18.5 million in cash.

The company says it intends to spend £12 million converting them to Premier Inn hotels.

Whitbread has also secured the first right of refusal to acquire all 12 of the remaining Purple hotels from RHC should they be earmarked for sale subject to RHC shareholder approval and certain property related consents.

Premier Inn is also developing three new hotels in the Greater London area at Waterloo, Ealing and Old Street in the City which are scheduled to open by 2011.

Alan Parker, Chief Executive Officer of Whitbread PLC, said the company has “exciting expansion plans for Premier Inn in London and today’s addition of 1200 rooms is a great start.”

“The Capital is an important focus for Premier Inn, and there is an increasing need for high quality, affordable accommodation. Our further pipeline will position us as the largest hotel chain in London with at least 8,500 rooms before the Olympics in 2012”.

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